Atlas of the ancients

[Jazzy]

So basically, let's have an entire trophy level to distinguish between people who got the rock at 23:59 on Thursday 19th and at 00:01 on Friday 20th, but let's not bother distinguishing between people who did the group puzzle 89 times and people who didn't do it at all.

Plot logic.

[Seerow]

But....that's not how they did it 0_o I didn't get that first day plot prize (was it the rock? Don't remember) until the next day when most other people got it. I just did the fixing the pipe one or two times on day one and called it a night. I ended up getting the magma trophy.

[Goldenchaos]

There are a good number of us that are still trying to figure out how the trophies for the AotA plot were distributed. Many people finished the complete plot (16 of 16 items) but only received the gold trophy rather than the magma. Could TNT please explain the divide to us and set our minds at ease? We really enjoyed the plot but don't understand why some were more rewarded than others. Thanks for your time and the great site. ~jadenewt
We don't like to get into the nitty gritty of how we award plot prizes, but to help clear up a lot of confusion we will explain that *when* you completed each step was important, not just simply completing them all.

...oh right, so its OUR FAULT that we didnt completed that FIRST STEP with the rock in the SEVEN HOUR WINDOW...??

Wait, hey, half the planet was asleep then. And I read that a few people got their trophies upgrade. AND they were told, by TNT supposably, that it was a GLITCH.


...

[Iggy]

It happened with at least another plot (LDP, where there was three subdivisions of trophies for users that have completed the plot.) in the past than the moment where the step was completed was important. So, I'm not surprised than they decided to go that road, really.


I'm upset, yes. But, not surprised.

[Cranberry]

Those of us who were first to finish the LDP got the top trophy, but that was because it was a puzzle and we solved it first, so we got more points for that. That's fair. Atlas of the Ancients was not a puzzle; it was mindless clicking and some game-playing. Having the prize distribution based on which day you managed to score high enough in a badly-made game was ridiculous.

[Iggy]

By solving, do you mean you beat Razul first, or you were constantly first to complete the steps?

Just curious.

[zebru]

I'm still rather stunned with how casually TNT is lying through their teeth here.

The reason for the trophy uproar (which came from AotA boards) is that there was a glitch at the time the news with AoTA prizes came up that caused the trophies to be downgraded by one slot (if you deserved magma you got gold, if you deserved gold you got silver etc.). They fixed several people's trophies and sent the following message to others which you can see here: http://www.neopets.com/~Photther. Later on they fixed the trophies page so that people who collected the next day got the correct trophies (actually magma was at some point awarded to those who didn't complete all steps on the day it was released).

But in the mean time they probably decided replacing the trophies and giving the people extra missing prizes would prove to be to much work, so they conveniently changed their story to the "it was meant to be that way all along". People were compering notes on AotA board and complained about wrong trophies so TNT hurriedly closed the board completely down.

[Cranberry]

By solving, do you mean you beat Razul first, or you were constantly first to complete the steps?

Just curious.

Consistently first to complete the steps. I was in an AIM chatroom with parkersc (who came first on the entire site), dolphinling (second), and two or three other people who came in just behind me (I was third). We figured out several of the big steps first and then helped people out at PPT and on the neoboards. I still have all of our many, many logs. Here's one from when we figured out how to get the third "useless crystal" (a step that took us two days to solve):

dolphinling (8:10:03 AM): When we finally do announce this [on PPT], we should do it as a completely innocuous post, except make the third crystal the avatar of whoever anounces it
Red (8:10:25 AM): I wonder if we just posted the "This clue does not exist" what folk'd do
Cran (8:10:45 AM): haha, totally, both of you
dolphinling (8:10:58 AM): Oooo, I so claim doing that.
dolphinling (8:11:05 AM): Especially since I don't have an avatar
Cran (8:11:09 AM): "You know what? I don't think the second clue exists"
dolphinling (8:11:22 AM): lol
dolphinling (8:12:04 AM): Except... we need to give them a hint on how to get to "this clue does not exist". If we just post it, it'll be no help to them.
Cran (8:13:07 AM): I say we wait until stamp and everyone catch up.
Red (8:13:14 AM): Post a screenshot of "This clue does not exist." and also just the word, "Separate."
Cran (8:13:15 AM): who else is left?
Red (8:13:19 AM): that's a fair clue, IMO
Red (8:13:28 AM): someone clever'll latch on, figure out what the hell the word means
Cran (8:13:30 AM): separate... and then "24 scrolls"
dolphinling (8:13:32 AM): What happened to supR?
Red (8:13:42 AM): "24 scrolls" seems like way too much of a hint
Red (8:13:52 AM): We worked (really) hard, far more than they did
dolphinling (8:13:58 AM): No, not enough of one, I think... they'd never understand it.
Red (8:14:25 AM): Well it's whatever y'all think, but definitely "separate." should help them
Red (8:14:28 AM): with anything else
dolphinling (8:14:48 AM): How about "Anubis Toxicology Reports... or somewhere else, if you're lucky"
dolphinling (8:15:41 AM): Make them all figure out that you need to get that message, and then figure out how to get it.
Red (8:15:50 AM): Sure
Cran (8:15:56 AM): don't post anything
dolphinling (8:15:57 AM): Remember, it took us a couple days to figure out how.
Cran (8:16:00 AM): it's just asking for trouble
dolphinling (8:16:02 AM): Not yet, of course.
Red (8:16:09 AM): I think they'll require a shot of "This clue...", the text they'll just call bluff on probably
Cran (8:16:12 AM): if you post a hint and not an explanation, they will lynch you
dolphinling (8:16:20 AM): Haha...

[daisybell]

The problem with any kind of "people who are first" measuring system is that it excludes almost everyone in timezones where it's not waking time. Not even the most ardent player could be expected to stay up until 4am to play when they needed to be up at 7am for work or school. Typically, it's the same timezones, because plot steps seem to be released in the late afternoon in California. It doesn't seem that fair that you can't get the top trophies just because of where you live.

TNT really haven't handled this plot at all well. It started off kind of crappily and then went down the slope to shit creek, and fell in with a big splash at the end. Telling players than they can "still complete the plot" isn't much consolation when they missed out on doing something they didn't even know was happening until it was over, and by missing out, weren't able to get the best rewards.

[invaderhorizongreen]

i missed out on the last three prizes of pipe fixing because i was away from home with no internet connection so i could not get on! AND I THINK IT IS COMPLETE BULL**** that the trophy's were handed out the way they were so i had to get silver and not gold because i was away and only had 24 HOURS to get it done and have to wait every FIVE FREAKING MINUTES TO TRY AGAIN??? :k :k i thought this will go down as the worst plot ever unless something else ever comes along. still sense when does anything like a plot step or the planet 51 thing has only a 24 hour window to get X item(s) anyway YOU CAN DO BETTER TNT

[MeZergy]

Is there any way to catch up? I've been dealing with finals and... completely forgot about this plot...

[Seerow]

Sorry MeZergy, the plot is officially done and over with. It's not like the Altador plot is open for ever.

[MeZergy]

:C *cries*